Garage Heater Question for any HVAC Guys Here
 

I'm having a problem with the heater in my workshop that I could use some troubleshooting advice on. It's a natural gas heater...no idea size or any other specs. It's a large unit suspended from the ceiling and vented out through the roof of the shop. For the past few weeks it's been having problems lighting. When I first turn it on it'll light right up....it's on a thermostat so it cycles on and off. After the initial heating cycle the next time it tries to light again you hear the gas start flowing but there's a long delay before it ignites and I've been getting progressively bigger pops. Tonight it was so violent that I decided to shut it off until I can fix it. There's too much gas building up in there before ignition.

At first I thought all the sanding dust from the shop might be effecting it but really there's a large fan that passes air through it that should keep it pretty clean. Is it possibly the ignitor eventhough it fires up immediately the first time it's turned on?

I'm assuming the ignitor is easy to replace if that's the problem right? Just turn the gas off at the valve, disconnect the wires and remove and replace?

Any tips/suggestions/etc welcome.

Definitely a good idea to shut the heat off, but it will suck if you gotta work out there!! Not that I have much experience with this stuff, but it could also be that the flame tube is clogged. We had that happen to the furnace in our house a few years ago, and it had the same symptoms you describe. Just something else to check into, hope it helps. Good luck Paul!

could be a gas valve acting up

Maybe the hot surface ignitor, or flame sensor?

If you decide to have somebody come out I know a good outfit out of Manville.

Bill......let me know the name of the place. I'm hoping my one housemate's friend who's in the business can stop by tonight, but if not I'll have to call somebody tomorrow. It's going to be too cold this week for me to not have it working. I can't afford to take a few nights off right now because of the weather.

Paul,

Fras-Air is who I use. They were just out to my house yesterday to replace a broken part (controller) in my furnace.

http://www.fras-air.com/

They seem like a very knowledgable group of people, and each tech is willing to talk things out so that you can have a better understanding of what is going on with your HVAC system for the future.

If that falls thru, one of the guys I bowl with here in Ewing has his own business, I can get him in touch with you. I had him price out heating the garage in my other house and his price was far better then anyone else.